NEWS

9th Annual CHS Science Symposium shines light on student research

June 7, 2011 - Proving they have the right stuff, 20 CHS students last night unveiled their Science Reseach projects at the 9th Annual Science Symposium at the high school. A culmination of up to three years' work for some students, the syposium is an end-of-year celebration and display of the work of students enrolled in the school's highly-regarded Science Research program. While all 20 students were on hand to display their projects, two were tapped to present their findings before an audience that included parents, students, faculty and special guests.

This year, the two featured student presenters were Michael Belanger and Matt Cater. Mr. Belanger's project described the importance of the number and the placement of wings on an airplane and the efficiency of those locations. Mr. Cater's project focused on balance, its impact on pitching accuracy and the effect of age on both.

The symposium also featured keynote speaker, Dr. Jon Lothrop, Curator of Archaeology from the New York State Museum.

Students participating in the 2011 Science Symposium were:

Vincent DeChiaro: Gene Therapy

Kaylee Urban: Dolphins Behavior

Alan Dowling: Black Holes

Matt Cater: The Relationship Between Balance Age and Pitching

Kiera Clark: Cyber -Bullying

Myasia Colon: Anesthesia and Brain Functions

Mercedes Major: The Placebo Effect

Lindsey Bouchard: Metals in Seawater and the Effects on Marine Mammals

Jack Fitzgerald: Wind Turbine Noise

Michael Belanger: Aerospace

Branden LeQue: Paleo-Indian Hafting Methods

Michael Muzio: Insomnia

Habib Rasoully: Mercury Contami-nation in Hudson River Fish

Jason Savaria: Forensic Ballistics

Alex Urban: Great White Shark Tagging and Tracking

Reid Kisselback: Hurricanes at Landfall

Mohammed Rasoully: The Effects of Vitamin D on Stress

Emily Daigneault: Vocal Pitch Production

Stephanie Osterhout: MECP2 Gene Mutation sCause Rett Syndrome

Danny DeChiaro: Acid Rain in the Adirondacks

Click here to view slideshow>>

A PDF copy of the program can be viewed here>>

Featured student presenter biographies:

Matt Cater: The Relationship Between Balance Age and Pitching

My name is Matt Cater, I am a 17 year old junior and this is my 2nd year in the science research program. The rea-son I joined science research is because I am very interested in all things science and a good friend of mine was telling me about the program and I thought that it would fit my interests perfectly. When I started this course I was hoping to find a way to try and eliminate the risk of elbow and shoulder inju-ries in baseball pitchers. I researched that topic my entire first year and then soon realized that an experiment for this topic would be extremely difficult to perform. I then stumbled upon an article that was titled “The Relationship Between Balance and Pitching Error In College Baseball Pitchers” by Darrin Marsh. I read the article and became immediately cap-tivated, but while I was reading I was thinking to myself that Darrin is only studying baseball players that are in college. I was wondering how much age directly affected your balance and then your accuracy. This finally brought me to my hy-pothesis that „If you are between the ages 18-23 you will have better balance than that of a 7-12 year old and 35-40 year old therefore throwing more strikes. The reason I was so captivated with this topic because I am a very avid baseball player, I have been playing the game since I was five and have played ever since. I am hoping to continue my baseball career into the college level and so far everything is looking bright.

Michael Belanger: Aerospace

I am a junior. This is my second year in the science research program. I have previously looked into the effect of the number and position of fins on the
stability of rockets but have changed to the number of lifting surfaces on the airplane. My research is on the effect of the position and number of lifting
surfaces and the effect on plane flight. This research could prove useful in the future for the design of airplanes. In my free time I love to run track ,
cross country, and play football and play video games with my friends. My mentor is Nathan Russell who works at NYSERDA. I am presenting my own experimental design.